MHD flow in electrolytes at high Hartmann numbers

O. Andreev¹ - Ch. Haberstroh¹ - A. Thess²

¹ Dresden University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, D­01062 Dresden, Germany
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ilmenau University of Technology, P.O. Box 100565, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany

Abstract
The electrically driven MHD flow of a strong electrolyte was studied experimentally at the presence of a steady uniform magnetic field up to 8 T induction produced by a superconducting solenoid. The flow had the shape of a single vortex. The experiment confirms that at certain conditions the studied electrolyte flow has similar properties to the well­known magnetohydrodynamic behavior of liquid metal. The velocity distribution in the vortex flow was measured by the potential method and is presented in comparison with a simple analytical evaluation. The present study is preliminary and serves as background for further development of optical measurements a nd visualization of the MHD flow in electrolytes. Figs 6, Refs 10.